Ernesto de la Cruz
Ernesto de la Cruz is the main antagonist of Pixar's 19th full-length animated feature film Coco. He is Héctor Rivera's former childhood friend and music partner, Miguel's former idol, the Riveras' most hated enemy and a famous singer and musician who dazzled the audience with his good looks and his charm, and was a source of Mexican pride due to his handsome looks, strong morals, and his standing up for his fellow Mexicans. After dying of being crushed by a giant bell mid-performance, he resides as a soul in the Land of the Dead. However, it was revealed that Ernesto murdered Héctor and stole all of his songs and compositions to gain fame and fortune. In the English version, he was voiced by Benjamin Bratt, who also played El Macho in Despicable Me 2 by Universal Pictures, Antonio Pope in Ride Along 2, and El Topo in Snitch. In the Spanish version, he was voiced by Marco Antonio Solís (also known as "El Buki") on his first villainous role. Personality At first glance, Ernesto presents himself as a charming, wise, sensible and intelligent individual who encouraged others to follow their dreams no matter what, making him seem like a good role model to others (especially to Miguel). He also comes across as a very fun, friendly, approachable and optimistic person, the sort who's the life of the party wherever he goes. However, it all turns out to be a facade to hide his true nature: that of a selfish and overambitious person who wanted glory and fame for himself, even if it meant murdering his best friend Héctor in order to steal his song book. His afterlife as a spirit has also allowed him to strengthen his reputation, and he will go to malicious lengths to maintain it. When angry beyond limits, he considered Miguel a liability and went to the extent of attempting to murder the boy to hide his secret. He showed no remorse or hesitation, as he even taunted Héctor with a sarcastic apology. He was also cocky and egotistical enough to hide his secret in one of his films, which inevitably caused him to be exposed. When being confronted with his actions, he can be cowardly as shown when he was attacked by Héctor for killing him and being confronted by the other Riveras who learned the truth about Héctor's death. After being exposed for his treachery and losing everything, Ernesto was a silent individual who could only look on as he was condemned for his vile actions before he was confronted by Pepita, who exacted a poetic punishment which was throwing him around and letting him get crushed by a bell (a reference to his death). Quotes Trivia *Despite getting crushed a second time, Ernesto is not permanently dead due to already being dead, as Lee Unkrich confirmed. Furthermore, although he was apparently forgotten for a year before the film's epilogue, Unkrich has also confirmed that Ernesto is still remembered for his movies and his story as the one who stole Héctor's guitar and his songs and murdered him, albeit permanently disgraced. *Ernesto de la Cruz is a tribute to the singer/actors of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema like Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, Javier Solis and many others. **However, Ernesto de la Cruz is actually physically based on the beloved Mexican icon Pedro Infante (in fact, the second last name of Infante was "Cruz"). *Ernesto is one of the few main antagonists of a Pixar film who wasn't revealed to be evil at first. *Ernesto de la Cruz is voiced in the Spanish version by an actual Mexican singer and actor, Marco Antonio Solís a well-known songwriter and singer, also known as "El Buki". *In a deleted scene, Ernesto chased down Miguel to the flower bridge after being exposed. When stepping on the pedals, Ernesto fell and dissolved through the pedals. This scene was cut out to make Ernesto's death seem less tragic. *When Hector was about to leave Ernesto, Ernesto immediately offered a drink that had a poison which kills Hector. However, there was no preparation of Ernesto poisoning the alcohol shown. This indicates that the alcohol had already been poisoned prior to the main story of the movie and Ernesto might've planned to ultimately kill Hector in the long run. Because Hector was about to leave Ernesto earlier than he anticipated, Ernesto had to carry out his scheme earlier than planned. 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